As organizations working to protect the rights of children in armed conflict, we are dismayed by your reported decision to “freeze” any new additions of parties to conflict that commit grave violations of children’s rights to the annexes to your 2017 annual report to the United Nations Security Council on children and armed conflict. We urge you to reconsider, and issue an updated list with your report, including all perpetrators responsible for patterns of grave violations against children in 2016.

I want you to know how many people are working to lessen suffering in the world. In Syria, brave doctors are helping wounded civilians. In Pakistan, lawyers are getting compensation for conflict victims. In Somalia, journalists courageously tell the story of conflict. War is indeed brutal, but we see the better side of humanity every day.

In this global puzzle to create a better world, our piece is as critical as it is unique.